Rapist of senior convicted in plea deal
He also had failed to update registration as a sex offender
A convicted sex offender who broke into his elderly neighbor's home and raped her last year pleaded guilty yesterday to all charges filed against him.
David Baldaino, 37, agreed to a deal with the prosecutor's office that allowed him to plead guilty to first-degree sexual assault, kidnapping and first-degree burglary. Baldaino broke into the then-85-year-old woman's residence along Old Waialae Road in March 2005.
Baldaino was also charged with three counts of not updating his sex offender registration information and failing to comply with sex offender rules and regulations.
The plea agreement means Baldaino faces up to 30 years in prison when he is sentenced, instead of life in prison.
Deputy Prosecutor Lori Wada said the victim, who is now 86, was willing to testify, but she was satisfied with yesterday's developments.
"She has clearly been through a lot," Wada said. "She's very satisfied with the plea agreement and glad to put this behind her."
Baldaino said, "This is the way to go," when asked by Judge Richard Perkins if he was sure he wanted to plead guilty.
Wada said the victim knew Baldaino and his family because they were neighbors and that she would sometimes talk to his wife and give them fruit and eggplant from her yard.
On the day of the assault, Wada said Baldaino cut the victim's screen at about 3:50 a.m., reached in and unlocked her door. He then attempted to rape the victim while holding a knife against her side.
During the assault, the woman could not see her attacker's face because he had turned off the light and kept turning her to one side, away from him.
"Why are you doing this to me?" the woman told him at one point, saying she was an elderly woman. That did not stop Baldaino, who put a pillow on her face, raped her and left the house. Wada said the woman ran outside and told the first person she saw -- Baldaino's wife -- that she had just been raped.
Police later matched the fluid samples from the rape to DNA samples submitted by Baldaino as a convicted sex offender. In 1989, Baldaino had been convicted of third-degree sexual assault in a Kauai case and had last registered in 1998 as having been living in Makiki.
But Baldaino failed to keep his information up to date, and authorities lost track of him. Wada said this is the first time in Hawaii that a convicted sex offender has been sentenced to prison for not registering with the state.
Baldaino's public defender, Debra Loy, was unavailable for comment.
Baldaino's sentencing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. June 7 before Judge Perkins.